Lochmere, Cary: homes, schools, parks and commute

Last checked Oct. 12, 2026. Sources: the Town of Cary’s Imagine Cary Community Plan and residential boundaries data, the Wake County Public School System’s 2026-27 attendance areas and base school lookup, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s 2025-26 accountability data, GoCary and GoTriangle schedule data, OpenStreetMap and Zillow Research.

Lochmere is a master-planned area in southeast Cary, built around Lochmere Drive and Southeast Cary Parkway south of Tryon Road. The town’s Imagine Cary Community Plan names it, with Kildaire Farms and Cary Park, among the “large master-planned neighborhoods” that mixed housing types, which the plan calls “the traditional pattern in Cary.” The town’s residential boundaries data lists 13 neighborhoods with the Lochmere name, from Lochmere Village and Lochmere Forest to the Fairways of Lochmere and the Amberwood at Lochmere apartments. All are in ZIP code 27518.

What this means for you

• Zoned high school: Athens Drive High in Raleigh, 59.9% of state tests at grade level in 2025-26, according to the state’s accountability data. Check an address with the district’s base school lookup.
• Home value: $734,578 in ZIP code 27518 in August 2026, according to the Zillow Home Value Index.
• Nearest freeway exit: U.S. 1/U.S. 64 Exit 99 at Cary Parkway, about 2.1 miles by road.

Part of our Cary neighborhoods guide.

Where it is

Plotted on OpenStreetMap, the 13 Lochmere neighborhoods in the town’s data run from Tryon Road south toward Swift Creek, east of Kildaire Farm Road, with Lochmere Drive and Southeast Cary Parkway as the main streets. The area is inside Cary’s town limits and in Wake County.

Schools

Lochmere is in the Wake County Public School System, and its base schools are across the Raleigh line, a reminder that school zones do not follow town limits. We checked the middle of each of the 13 Lochmere neighborhoods against the district’s 2026-27 attendance areas. All 13 were zoned for Athens Drive High and Dillard Drive Middle. Eight were zoned for Dillard Drive Elementary and five, on the east side, for Swift Creek Elementary. Check your own address in the district’s base school lookup.

Scores are the share of state tests at grade level or above in 2025-26 and the state’s growth rating, from the accountability data.

The district average was 68.2%. Families can also apply to magnet and year-round schools; see our schools guide.

Home values

Zillow publishes no figure for Lochmere alone. The Zillow Home Value Index is a modeled typical value for the middle third of homes, not a sale price.

ZIP code 27518 had the highest value of Cary’s four main ZIP codes in Zillow’s August file. Trends are on our home prices page.

Parks and trails

• Harold D. Ritter Park, 301 Lochmere Drive, is a town park inside the area.
• Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve and the Stevens Nature Center, 2616 Kildaire Farm Road, are about a mile west.
• Swift Creek Bluffs Nature Preserve, 7800 Holly Springs Road, run by the Triangle Land Conservancy, is about a mile southwest, according to OpenStreetMap.
• Jack Smith Park, 9725 Penny Road, has a dog park.
• The Swift Creek Greenway and Speight Branch Greenway run through and beside the area.

More in our parks and trails guide and walking and biking trails guide.

Getting around

• U.S. 1/U.S. 64: Exit 99 at Cary Parkway is about 2.1 miles by road from the middle of Lochmere; Exit 98A at Tryon Road is about 2.5 miles.
• Downtown Cary (316 N. Academy St.): about 5 miles by road.
• Raleigh-Durham International Airport: about 14.9 miles by road.
• Buses: GoCary Route 5 (Kildaire Farm) stops at Crescent Commons Drive and Kildaire Farm Road, about 0.8 mile from the middle of Lochmere. GoTriangle Route 305 stops on Tryon Road at New Waverly Place and at Southeast Cary Parkway, about a mile away, according to the agencies’ published schedule data. See GoCary and GoTriangle.

Distances were measured with the OSRM routing engine on OpenStreetMap roads from a point in the middle of the area. They are distances, not drive times. More in our getting around guide.

Groceries and everyday stores

OpenStreetMap lists these within about 1.2 miles:

• Supermarkets: Whole Foods Market, 102 New Waverly Place; Harris Teeter, 2080 Kildaire Farm Road; Walmart Supercenter, 2010 Kildaire Farm Road; Lowes Foods, 6430 Tryon Road.
• Pharmacy: Walgreens on Colonades Way.
• Shopping centers: Lochmere Pavilion, Waverly Place and Crescent Commons.

How we built this page

The neighborhood list comes from the Town of Cary’s residential boundaries data and the Imagine Cary Community Plan. School zones come from the district’s attendance-area map for 2026-27, checked at the middle of each neighborhood; a home near a zone line can differ. We found no town or county registry of homeowners associations for Lochmere, so this page does not describe them.

Frequently asked questions

What high school is Lochmere in Cary zoned for?

All 13 Lochmere neighborhoods we checked in the Wake County Public School System’s 2026-27 attendance areas were zoned for Athens Drive High in Raleigh and Dillard Drive Middle.

What ZIP code is Lochmere in?

All 13 neighborhoods that carry the Lochmere name in the Town of Cary’s data are in ZIP code 27518.

What is the typical home value in Lochmere?

Zillow’s Home Value Index for ZIP code 27518 was $734,578 in August 2026, up 0.9% from August 2025. Zillow publishes no figure for Lochmere alone.

Is Lochmere a planned community?

Yes. The town’s Imagine Cary Community Plan names Lochmere, with Kildaire Farms and Cary Park, as one of Cary’s large master-planned neighborhoods with a mix of housing types.